Godliness With Contentment

The Rich Young Ruler and the Difficulty of Entering the Kingdom

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

And now, here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg.

The Holy Gospel according to St. Mark, chapter 10, verses 23 through 31. Jesus looked around and He said to His disciples, how difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God.

And the disciples were amazed at His words. But Jesus said to them again, children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God. It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of an eagle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.

And so they were exceedingly astonished. And they said to Him, well then who can be saved? Jesus looked at them and said, with man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.

Peter began to say to Him, see we've left everything and followed you. Jesus said, truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands with persecutions and in the age to come eternal life.

But many who are first will be last and the last first. This is the gospel of the Lord. In the name of Jesus. All right. A little bit of a note here. You'll note this is part two of last week's sermon.

I have to say it that way because it picks up right where last week's gospel left off. You had the rich, young ruler come, and this is the fellow who has everything according to the world's standards of success, wealth, youth, and well, power, all the things I don't have, right?

And this fellow is given an invitation by Jesus to come follow me, Jesus says, but he won't do it. He won't do it. The thing he lacked was Christ. And so Jesus now, with this fellow departing, is now going to make some commentary and elaborate on what just happened.

Wealth, the Pharisees, and Solomon's Warning

So it says this, Mark 10, 23, Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, how difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God. And then verse 24 says, the disciples were amazed at his words, amazed like in shocked, amazed and like, say what?

And the reason why is simple, because in that day, in those days, the Pharisees, whom Scripture describes as those who loved money, loved sitting at the best seats at banquets and being greeted in the marketplaces, they taught that being wealthy was the tangible, visible expression of God's favor upon somebody's life.

You know what? What the Pharisees taught is almost exactly the same as what the televangelists preach today. Send in your $1 ,000 seed offering and God's going to bless you a hundredfold. And the way you can tell that somebody is really in God's favor is whether or not they have a 15 ,000 square foot mansion on a lake and a private jet in their own airport.

That's how you can tell that somebody is being really blessed by God. But you're going to note what Scripture teaches is the exact opposite of this. In fact, after hearing what our texts have to say regarding wealth, I think it's a good prayer to pray what Scripture teaches us.

Lord, don't give me too much money that I don't need you or not enough that I despise you. We pray for daily bread, daily. And so the disciples here, when Jesus is talking about how difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of heaven, their minds are blown.

And we'll note then, we'll do a little excursion back into our Old Testament text. Now a little bit of a note regarding the authorship, Ecclesiastes chapter 5 is what we just heard, and we'll go back and revisit this.

Consider the author, King Solomon. If there was anybody in the ancient world who was the equivalent of a billionaire playboy, it would have been King Solomon. In his heyday, he had great wealth. In fact, by today's standard, he may have actually been a trillionaire rather than a billionaire.

He had great wealth, he had power, he's the king, and oh yeah, lots and lots and lots of women, billionaire, trillionaire, playboy. And so consider the fact that he's been there, done that when it comes to wealth, power, and youth, and he has the t-shirt to prove it.

He now writes in Ecclesiastes chapter 5 this, he who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income. This also is vanity. You can translate that Hebrew word as meaningless.

Have you ever wondered, what is it with people who have like these huge amounts of money? How many tens of millions of dollars do they need? How many hundreds of millions of dollars do they need? How many billions do they need?

We'll note one of the wealthiest men on the planet died this past week, Paul Allen of Microsoft. He was right there on the cusp of the new technology that emerged that has completely changed the world.

And he was there for the ride, and this is a man who didn't lack anything, and yet he died at age 65. Consider that. So have you ever asked the question, how much money do you need after all? You ask the wealthy person that, who really loves money, and they might just say, well just a little bit more, just a little bit more, because money never satisfies.

In fact, it can't. And so Solomon says, when goods increase, they increase who eat them. The wealthier you get, the more people show up with open hands, right? And so what advantage has the owner but to see them with his eyes?

But he then, by contrast, says this. Sweet is the sleep of a laborer. Think day laborer. This is the fellow who doesn't have a steady job, the fellow who shows up at the city gate or at some surreptitious place with another group of people, and the farmers come or the construction guys come and say, I'm looking for five guys, five guys who know how to swing a hammer or use a shovel.

And he raises his hand and says, all right, you, you, you, you, you, back in the truck, and they head off. That's the guy that's being described here. But sweet is the sleep of the laborer, for whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep.

That's right. The guy who has a lot of money spends a lot of time brooding over his nest egg, thinking about his money. Isn't it funny that, you know, one of the apps that you can't delete off your iPhone is that stock app.

It comes standard, right? Because when you're in the stock market, you got to be watching. Is Apple up this week or is it down? How about Bank of America or Wells Fargo? What about GE? And you're looking at your stocks going, and what's going to be my return?

And is the, is it up this week, down this week? Has it plummeted? Yeah. You just worry, worry, worry, worry, worry. And so the person who has a lot of money also eats a lot of antacids. Good way to put it.

So Solomon continues. Now there's a grievous evil that I've seen under the sun. Riches were kept by their owner to his hurt, and those riches were lost in a bad venture. And you know that Solomon wrote this long before Wall Street existed, long before the stock market crash of the 1920s or the one in the late 80s, and then the one in the early 2000s, right?

We've seen these things happen kind of cyclically. And then we hear the stories, how many trillions of dollars were lost in one day's trading on the stock market, and then we all suffer the repercussions of that, and some wealthy fellow who bet everything on a particular stock loses it all.

He goes from wealth to rags overnight. And Solomon's describing that exact same thing was happening even in his day. And he's the father of a son, he says, but he has nothing then in his hand. As he came from his mother's womb, he shall go again.

And this is all of us, by the way. I love the fact that preachers over and again say they've never seen a U-Haul at a funeral. Just doesn't make any sense, right? As he came from his mother's womb, he shall go, naked as he came, and he shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand.

This also is a grievous evil. Just as he came, so shall he go. And what gain is there to him who toils for the wind? Moreover, all his days he eats in darkness, in mutts vexation, sickness, and anger.

And notice this list that goes along with those who love money is the exact opposite of the fruit of the Spirit, which are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control. So behold, Solomon says, what I've seen to be good and fitting.

And this is the guy who is the trillionaire playboy, who kept nothing from himself that he could possess, or purchase, or buy, or experience. And here's what he says, behold, what I've seen to be good and fitting is to eat, and to drink, and to find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given them.

For this is his lot. Hmm, this doesn't sound right. The world tells me I need to strive. I need to achieve. I need to climb the ladder. I need to amass power and wealth for myself. And they hold up as examples that I'm to follow the most successful, the prettiest, the handsomest, the richest.

And Solomon's been there, done that, and says, you know what? Life's kind of mean. And this is your lot in life that you're going to toil. So eat, drink, and enjoy your work. Find some satisfaction in the toil that you've been given to do.

And then he goes on, everyone also to whom God has given wealth, and possessions, and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot, and to rejoice in his toil. And note what it says then at the end of verse 19.

This is the gift of God. Huh. So I don't need to strive. Just enjoy the toil that is put in front of you. Whether it's farming, or research, or preaching, or being a mom, or a dad, a day laborer, doesn't matter, a teacher.

Enjoy the toil. This is your lot in life. So enjoy it. For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart. Hmm. Hmm. Talk about how that's possible.

With Man It Is Impossible, but Not With God

Back to our gospel text though. Jesus said to them again, children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God. And we're going to note that phrase is not merely referring to the wealthy. How difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God is a universal statement that applies to all of us.

And then he says this, and everybody, even if you are not a Christian and never come to church, you've heard this phrase. It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.

Now, tiny little needles. I have a tough enough time getting the thread into the eye of the needle. Thank God they have little things that you can poke in there and then pull it through. If it weren't for that invention, I'd never pull it off.

But I can't imagine the difficulty of actually taking a camel and squeezing it through that little thing. I'm sure some physicists somewhere has figured out how to do it. Maybe honey, I shrunk. The kids might come into play here, right?

But as difficult as that might sound, taking a camel, shrinking it, and pushing it through the eye of a needle, it's even more difficult for us to be saved. So difficult that it took Jesus Christ, the son of God, being born of the Virgin Mary, being crucified for your sins and mine, dying and then rising from the grave on the third day.

I'm pretty sure that's a lot more difficult than taking a camel and pushing it through the eye of a needle. Forget the resurrection thing. None of us have been able to figure out how to pull that off.

Let's take a look at that camel again. Right? And that's kind of the point. So it's easier for a camel to go through an eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. And so the disciples at this point, their mind is just like blown.

Their whole theology, God's visible favor is manifested in somebody's wealth and their health and the fact that they're not cursed and they're loved and adored and have power. That's all now trashed. So they were exceedingly astonished and they said to him, then who can be saved if the most successful and the richest among us are not saved by their wealth?

In fact, Jesus, you're making it sound like wealth itself is kind of dangerous. Dangerous in the sense that it's idolatry, dangerous in the sense that it leads us away from the kingdom of God, leads us away from you who then can be saved.

So Jesus looked at them and he's answering this question. Who can be saved with man? It is impossible, but with not with God consider the implications here. Jesus is saying it's impossible for you and I, regardless of how much money we have in our bank account or don't have in our bank account, because the question is who can be saved with man.

It's totally impossible. You can not save yourself. And the refrain from last week comes flooding back to our memory. No one is good except for God alone. But not with God. It's not impossible with God to save you for all things are possible with God.

James on the Miseries of the Rich and the Danger of Greed

Talk about this a little bit more. Consider then the plight of the rich. James, half brother of Jesus, says this in James 5. Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are going to be coming upon you.

Your riches have rotted, your garments are moth-eaten, your gold and your silver have corroded. Very things that they obsess about now are completely gone and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire.

You have laid up treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud. You'll note here that Scripture is saying of the wealthy, the greedy, the stingy, they always work everything out in their favor.

I know your time card says you put in 40 hours, but I saw you taking a coffee break, so I'm busting that down to 36. They always work it out in their favor, right? So, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, they're crying out against you.

And the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord, of hosts. And you have lived on earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You've fattened your hearts in the day of slaughter. You've condemned and murdered the righteous person.

He does not resist you. You'll note then that amassing for yourself great hordes of wealth seems about as smart as, well, rearranging the deck chairs and amassing a small horde of goods on the Titanic.

It doesn't make any sense. And that's the point. So, what do we do in a situation like this? Because the reality of the situation is that each and every one of us, we've been tempted to put our trust in that false God known as money.

We've looked to money in our bank account to provide us with the needs that we have in our life rather than to the God who's promised to meet our needs and give us daily bread. Each and every one of us, in one sense or another, has been stingy with the things that God has given us.

Don't think for a second that those rich are somehow out there, even if you don't have any money at all, you can still be as greedy as the greatest billionaire on the planet. And that's kind of the point.

Christ Our High Priest and the Call to Contentment

So, what do we do? Well, consider this. The end of our epistle text says this about Jesus. Since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession.

And our confession is that we are saved by grace through faith apart from works. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are and yet is without sin.

Consider this. Jesus Christ, when he was 30 years old, spent 40 days in the wilderness being tempted by the devil himself. And one of the temptations went something like this. The devil showed him all of the kingdoms of the earth, all of them in their greatness and their glory and their grandeur and their wealth and their prestige and their power.

And the devil said, I will give you all of them. I'll give you China. I'll give you Rome. I'll give you Babylon. I'll give you even the Celts. They're kind of up and coming at this time. I'll give them the whole lot to you.

And all you got to do is worship me. Jesus is a 30 year old man, which I think is still very young now, as a 30 year old man was tempted with wealth and power beyond that of anything that anybody has ever experienced.

To this day, there has never been a single ruler who has ruled over all of the earth. And he was offered all of it. And all he had to do was worship the devil, to which Jesus said, it is written you shall worship the Lord your God and serve him only.

He's been tempted in every way and yet is without sin, including this way. So because of that, Hebrews writes, let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Who then can be saved? With man, this is impossible, but not with God. With God, all things are possible. With Christ, because he was sinless, because he took your sin upon himself, because he bled and died for you, because he being the wealthiest and most powerful being that ever was, who emptied himself and became poor so that you might be rich because nothing is impossible with God.

You can be saved because God is rich in mercy and grace and forgiveness and kindness. And what is impossible for you, you saving yourself is not impossible with Christ, him saving you. So let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy, forgiveness, find grace to help in time of need.

Consider then where Peter goes with this, his theology destroyed then regarding wealth and it being a tangible expression of God's favor. He said to Jesus, Lord, we've left everything and followed you.

That's a legitimate point. Where does that put us? And Jesus says, truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the gospel.

And now watch what he says, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands. Note it says mothers, plural, which is kind of weird, right?

I've got one biological mother, I've got a mother-in-law, so I've got two. But notice he's talking about the acquisition of even more. And I think Jesus here is hinting at something a little bit bigger than just family in the sense of biological family or married family.

Take a look around. Those of you who are younger, the older women in this congregation are your mothers. All of you are brothers and sisters. You younger in the congregation, the older men are your fathers.

We are a family. And so God, Christ promises us even more family. If we lose our family for the sake of Christ, Christ promises us even more. And then he says this. So houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and lands, but with persecutions.

You see, everything in this life under the curse comes with a cross. Everything in this life comes with persecution and thorns and pain and suffering. That's how it is under the curse. We live in the age of the era of good and evil.

They come together. But Jesus says, but in the age to come, eternal life. And you'll note that Solomon said that it was vanity and that it was meaningless and that it was an evil, a despicable evil that somebody would work and labor, and then somebody else would enjoy those things.

Because we all die. We come into this world naked. We leave empty handed as well. But in the life to come, in the world to come, it says in scripture that no one will ever plant a vineyard and have somebody else enjoy its fruits.

There is a day coming in the new earth after the resurrection when we will labor and build and construct and plant and work and will forever enjoy the work of our hands. Never again to lose it. Be a war or pestilence or disease or death in a world without end.

We will long and forever enjoy what we've done. And that's a good thing, not an evil. But it's not in this lifetime. That's to come. So then as forgiven sinners, as pardoned greedy persons, how then are we to live?

What does it look like to bear fruit in keeping with repentance? So that we avoid the sin of idolatry when it comes to wealth, money and possessions. Well, Paul writes in First Timothy these words, godliness with contentment is great gain.

Godliness with contentment. And that's kind of what Solomon was getting at. Eat, drink and enjoy the labor that you've been given to do. Eat and drink. Enjoy the labor. Be content. Godliness with contentment is great gain.

For we brought nothing into the world. We can't take anything out of it. Well, that sounds a lot easier than trying to figure out how to protect my 401k and make sure that I don't suffer loss in the market and amass myself a big thing of wealth.

And yeah, that just sounds like total drudgery. This on the other hand, godliness with contentment. Thank you, Lord, for what you've given me. Thank you. This is great gain. We brought nothing in the world.

We can't take anything out of it. But if we have food and clothing, at least we're going to be content. But those who desire to be rich, listen to what Paul writes, they fall into temptation and into a snare and into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. And it is through this craving that comes up from our sinful flesh. It is through this craving that some have actually wandered away from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pangs.

It's like being on one of those game shows, right? Behind door number one, you have temporary wealth and power and prestige and a mass of fortune. And behind door number two, you have eternal life. But in the here and now, just you need to be content with what God gives you.

He doesn't promise you anything beyond daily bread. So we take door number one or door number two and somebody goes, you know, that door number one is looking pretty good here. It's ridiculous. You can't take any of it with you.

And there's no promise that you're even going to be alive tomorrow. You see the foolishness of this? And that's the point. So let us understand then that none of us can save ourselves. This is impossible.

That it took Jesus Christ to bleed and to die for our sins and to rise again on the third day in order to save us. And that he has saved us from the idolatry of greed. He's saved us from the idolatry of providing for our own selves rather than receiving from the hand of God.

He has bled and died for our craving for more and more and more. And forgiven us for that as well. And he calls us to bear fruit in keeping with repentance as those who are forgiven of these great sins to be content with the things that God has given us.

As Solomon said, eat and drink. Eat and drink and be content with your toil and your labor. And I would add to it then, eat and drink. And here's the reason why. Because tomorrow when Jesus returns, then we will live.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

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